Category Archives: US News

‘The American way’: Mitch McConnell defends Trump threat to challenge election results – video

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‘We don’t know who won the presidential race yet,’ said Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell as he defended Trump’s threat to challenge election results in the supreme court, a statement that drew wide criticism.

McConnell on Wednesday said Trump should not be criticised for threatening to bring in his lawyers, adding the Biden campaign would do the same.

‘In a close election you can anticipate in some of these states you are going to end up in court, (it’s) the American way,’ McConnell said during a news conference in Louisville, Kentucky

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Mail-in ballot tracker: counting election votes in US swing states

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With millions of Americans voting by mail during the pandemic, the Guardian and ProPublica are tracking the votes in critical states to determine how many are counted, rejected and delayed

This piece is published in partnership with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive their biggest stories as soon as they’re published

An unprecedented number of Americans have voted by mail this year to avoid Covid-19 risk. Joe Biden’s supporters said they were more likely to vote by mail while Donald Trump’s supporters said they were more likely to vote in person. With postal delays, rejected ballots and a dearth of funding, the process isn’t always smooth – ballots can be rejected for multiple reasons, and due to court challenges, election rules are changing even while voting is underway. Meanwhile, Trump and other Republican officials have spent the last months casting doubt on the mail-in voting process, paving the way for legal battles during the vote count.

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Democracy in Trumpland: I won because I say so | Ed Pilkington

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While the president indulged his victory fantasy, Democrats had a night of part hope, part soul-searching

It was the grand, carefully choreographed victory speech that Donald Trump never got to make in 2016. Hail to the Chief was playing in the background as the president took to the stage around 2am, a phalanx of Stars and Stripes at his back and in front of him a maskless crowd of progeny and devotees screaming “We love you!”

In 2016 Trump was so stunned by his own unexpected triumph that he looked quite taken aback. His victory speech was written in such a hurry it contained profuse praise for Hillary Clinton, the woman who had been subjected to chants of “lock her up”.

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Election night in New York City: anxiety, uncertainty and empty streets

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Photographer Jordan Gale and George Etheridge documented a historic election night in New York City, from an empty Times Square to Brooklyn

New York City prepared for the final act of the most consequential election in a generation on Tuesday. There was reason to worry.

During the city’s 10 days of early voting, many of the 1.1 million New Yorkers were forced to spend large parts of the day in socially distant lines that stretched across multiple city blocks – including some who had decided to vote in person after a mail-in ballot snafu. Even the mayor waited almost four hours, after which he and the governor suggested a complete overhaul of the board of elections.

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‘Pennsylvania will have a fair election’: governor announces possible result delay – video

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The governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, said the electoral system in the state is working, but due to millions of mail-in ballots the results could be delayed until after Wednesday.

During a press conference, Wolf assured voters every ballot would be counted before results are announced in the key state

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‘A disgrace’: former aide John Bolton slams Donald Trump’s early win claim – video

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The former Trump US national security adviser John Bolton has said the president's premature claim of victory in the election is 'a disgrace'.

Early on Wednesday, Trump said he would take the election to the supreme court to stop votes being counted. He falsely claimed victory, as the election remained too close to call with millions of votes yet to be counted

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Fate of climate crisis hangs on election as US exits Paris agreement

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Trump administration set US withdrawal in motion a year ago but it didn’t take effect until 4 November

The United States on Wednesday officially became the only country in the world refusing to participate in global climate efforts, with the fate of the crisis hanging on the still uncalled presidential election.

Donald Trump as of Wednesday has withdrawn the US from the Paris climate agreement, an international pact to try to avert dangerous temperature increases that are already leading to more extreme weather and threaten to shrink world food supplies, force millions to flee their homes and deprive many of basic human rights. Trump’s administration set the US exit in motion a year ago, but it didn’t automatically take effect until 4 November.

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Faith v fraud: Biden and Trump react during the US election count – video

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With the US presidential election count still too close to call, Joe Biden said he was optimistic about the outcome and that it the race was not over until every vote had been counted. Meanwhile, Donald Trump falsely claimed he had already won and spoke of a fraud against the American public

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Mark Kelly on Senate win in Arizona: ‘Tonight is about getting to work’ – video

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Mark Kelly, the Democrat and former astronaut, focused on bipartisanship in a speech shortly before he was declared the winner of the Senate race in Arizona. 'I’m confident that when all the votes are counted, we’re going to be successful in this mission,’ Kelly told supporters. ‘The work starts now.’

The retired US navy captain, who ran his campaign by playing up his outsider status in politics, said: 'Our state doesn't need a Democrat senator or a Republican senator. We need an Arizona senator. There is nothing we can't achieve if we work together'

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US election 2020 live: Trump and Biden pick up wins as votes counted in Florida

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The AP has confirmed that Senator John Cornyn has won another Senate term in Texas, defeating Democratic candidate MJ Hegar.

BREAKING: Republican John Cornyn wins reelection to U.S. Senate from Texas. #APracecall at 9:06 p.m. CST. #Election2020 #TXelection https://t.co/lGfinjTqT4

Donald Trump has won Kansas and its 6 electoral votes, the AP just announced.

BREAKING: Donald Trump wins Kansas. #APracecall at 9:00 p.m. CST. #Election2020

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Coronavirus live news: seven US states report record hospitalisations; France suffers highest deaths since April

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France sees 854 new deaths and 36,330 new cases; UK sees highest deaths since May; Italy fears ‘tsunami’ of hospitalisations.

Twitter has permanently suspended the account of the conspiracy theorist David Icke. A spokesman for the social media platform said Icke had violated its rules regarding coronavirus misinformation, PA Media reports.

The move follows the decision by YouTube and Facebook to terminate Icke’s accounts in early May for the same reason.

Related: Twitter permanently suspends conspiracy theorist David Icke’s account

Here is what we know so far about the US election. Among other things:

According to a CNN nationwide exit poll, about a third of voters said the economy was most important to them, around one in five said racial inequality and about one in six said the coronavirus pandemic.

We'll be updating this summary of what we know – and don't know – throughout the night:https://t.co/LZqwjQNhbl

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No matters what happens tonight, here are reasons to be hopeful | Rev William Barber, Sarah Smarsh, Cori Bush, Sara Amora, Nikayla Jefferson

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Ahead of the election result writers highlight the political positives at a crucial juncture in US history

As the world watches US election results come in, many people are anxious that national polls which have shown Joe Biden with a sizable lead for months will once again be shattered by a last-minute comeback from Donald Trump..

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‘Hope over fear’: Joe Biden pledges to bring unity to US in campaign speech – video

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Joe Biden has vowed to unite the US, as the Democratic hopeful outlined how he would be different to Donald Trump if he were to win the presidential election. Biden was speaking at a campaign event in Philadelphia hours before voting closes

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‘Losing is never easy,’ Trump says hours before voting ends – video

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Donald Trump told reporters losing was ‘never easy’ for him and he had not yet written an acceptance or concession speech hours before the end of voting in the US election.

Trump added there was ‘tremendous unity’ during a stop at the Republican national committee in Arlington, Virginia, where he was thanking staff

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Could Donald Trump refuse to accept defeat in US presidential election?

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Trump has repeatedly refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power – uncertainty over result will put that to the test

As the US prepared for a Joe Biden or a Donald Trump victory, Americans were forced to consider an extraordinary scenario in which Trump loses, but refuses to concede.

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Birx warns US entering ‘deadly phase’ of Covid, contradicting Trump’s message

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Deborah Birx says ‘we are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase’ as Trump claims US is ‘rounding the corner’

White House scientific adviser Dr Deborah Birx warned the United States is entering a new “deadly phase” of the coronavirus pandemic, and urged an “aggressive” approach to containing its spread.

Birx gave the warning in a written memo delivered to top administration officials Monday. It is a direct contradiction of one of Donald Trump’s central, and false, closing campaign messages – that the US is “rounding the corner” on the pandemic.

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US election day 2020: voters stream to the polls to elect the next president – live updates

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America is waking up to go to the polls today in an election campaign that has in some senses been very volatile, but also, as far as polling numbers are concerned, very stable.

Joe Biden has held a solid lead in the national polls for month. But as we saw in 2016, it isn’t getting the most votes that decides who ends up in the White House – Hillary Clinton polled 2.86m more than Donald Trump. We all know what happened next.

Related: US braces for historic election amid fears democracy is in danger

We don’t want to neglect mention of the celebrities who joined the campaign trail yesterday – that might be illegal?

At Donald Trump’s final rally of the evening, in Michigan, the president called the rapper Lil’ Pump onstage, incorrectly referring to him as “Lil’ Pimp”. We included footage of that moment earlier in the blog, check it out.

Just performed GLORY with my brother @JohnLegend at the Final @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris Rally on Election Eve in Philadelphia. Vote tomorrow. Let’s make history. pic.twitter.com/u3AzzxqZMc

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Coronavirus live news: France sees record new cases; WHO warns it’s ‘not too late’ to take critical action

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Portugal considering state of emergency; Italy’s coronavirus strategy is ‘wasting time’, says scientific advisor; Germany begins ‘light lockdown’. Follow the latest updates.

In the UK Liverpool (otherwise known as the World’s Best City) is set to become the first to have mass test-and-trace operation. My colleagues Sarah Boseley and Jess Elgot write:

Up to half a million people in Liverpool will be tested for Covid-19 under the UK government’s first attempt to embark on city-wide mass testing.

Related: Liverpool to pioneer UK's first attempt at mass Covid testing

Indonesia has reported 2,973 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of infections to 418,375, according to data from the country’s health ministry.

The country has also reported an additional 102 deaths, taking the total number of fatalities to 14,146.

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